It was a radical shift in the world of deadpoolin’ – but the first Three-Bagger is – ahem – in the bag.

With the timely passing of Ernie Harwell, Ghosts of Stiffs Past won it with … And This Is My Other Carcass Daryl – with Daryl Gates and Merlin Olsen rounding out the trifecta. Congrats to our latest winning corpse counter.

That was so much fun, we started another one. Go give her a try, and maybe YOU can be the next Big Winner. Choose carefully, grasshopper.

Now that we’ve dispelled the myth of the “celebs dying in threes” thing, it’s time to start a new game where you try to get three hits. Makes sense to us, and that’s really all that matters.

The basic principals are the same: you pick a list of 10 would-be daisy-pushers (and one alternate in case one croaks on you a bit early), and then you comb the Stiffs.com Forums waiting for the good news. But there is a difference here – there is not end date for this game. This one is purely based on who gets 3 stiffs first. As soon as someone hits that magical 3rd corpse, the game is over, and out goes the cash.

The cash distribution is a bit different too – it goes out based on points like before – but this is our first game with a PRIZE POOL. Winners get a percentage of the prize pool – so the more people you get playing, the more money you win! Woo hoo!

Comments welcome, as long as it’s nothing about the rules. Or who’s famous. Or why I’m so handsome. We’re tired of answering those all the time.

Every time you talk to someone about the fun that IS deadpoolery, there are always 3 questions:

1. Isn’t that kind of morbid? (Answer: Yes)

2. Why are you so handsome? (Answer: I just am)

3. Why do celebrities always die in threes?

That last one just bugs us over here at the stiffs.complex. Let’s summarize: they don’t. Celebrities die ALL THE TIME – that’s what makes this game so damned much fun. Just go look at the list of dead celebs for this year so far – it’s a treasure trove of corpses, ALL THE TIME.

Now look – we;re not saying that we don’t see interesting things. Sometimes will be 2, 3, 4, even 5 of the same TYPE of celebrity dying in short order. Sometimes we’ll see 3 authors go all at once, and call it a “writer trifecta” or 4 politicians in a row will be a “storm of windbags”, or 3 socialites will die in 2 days and we’ll call that “a gift to all mankind”. But no – they don’t go in threes.

On average we get about 80 stiffs (once that qualify as actual celebrities, that is) a year. On average, that is one every 4.56 days. Sometimes we’ll get lucky, and get one a day for 6 days straight. Sometimes we go 20 days without any, and then they just drop like famous little flies. Either way – they’re going all the time.

So the next time you hear someone say “Yep! They always die in threes!”, just say “You’re an idiot” – and walk away. Trust us. It’s easier.

It’s all about moving forward here at the stiffs.complex, and our team of dedicated dead pool PHDs have been hard at work looking for the next challenge. And they just gave birth to their new child.

It’s called the 3 Bagger.

Same deal as always – you pick a list of 10 celebs, and an alternate (in case, you know, somebody on your list kicks before the game starts) – and the game starts. The difference here is that instead of getting the most stiffs in a certain time period, we’re looking for the magical number 3. The ancient Incans believed that the number 3 had magic healing powers. We’re looking for just the opposite. Once a list – any list – gets 3 corpses racked up – ANY 3 – the game is over, and the prize money is paid.

We’re working on a couple of last minute details – like how we might split the prize money if multiple people get their 3 all at once – but this game is definitely coming. We’ll start accepting entries in February, and the game will start in March. Once it’s over, we’ll go ahead and start a new one right up. It’s a nonstop Ferris Wheel of Fun – and you can hop right on!

In the meantime, go ahead and hop in on the current game, and we’ll post up the rules and all that stuff once February rolls around. Oh – and that thing about the Incas? Total bullshit.

OK – so we used to do this on some obscure, all-too-hard-to-find part of the site, but enough people bitched that we figured we should put it right up front. These names here are the ones that are famous. They COUNT. These are the ones that the all-powerful Fame Committee have told us are indeed worthy of deadpoolage.

Now we know what some of you are thinking here: “Hey! They forgot about that guy with that thing on his face from that show in the 60’s that I wrote in! He’s DEFINITELY famous!” Read this part carefully: NO. THEY ARE NOT. The committee has ruled. It’s done. You thought you had a guaranteed famous geezer on your list, and you were wrong. Suck it up and lets move on.

Turns out that the new Select-O-Matic is making it easier to write in candidates. Even after we cleaned up stupid typing mistakes (terrorist names are a BITCH), there were 215 write ins. The ones that were valid were apparently more famous than usual however, because a whopping 110 of them – that’s 51.16% – were deemed famous. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – the FC works just fine for our purposes. And we don’t even pay them to participate! Woo Hoo!

It was a big year kids. For a while there mid-year, they were dropping faster than Britney’s underwear. But the excitement had to end, and that happened last night at the stroke of midnight. I know, because I was drinking like a sailor on leave. You can trust me.

Working further to cement his place in history as one of – if not THE greatest deadpooler of all time, DepressED dominated unlike any before him. SIX of the top 10 spots (including the Big Prize) and TEN of the top 20. It’s stunning my any measure, and he deserves our respect. Unfortunately, he’d probably rather have cash, so I’m going to send it to him. $3,537.50, to be exact. He also gets a Stiffs.com shirt, two Stiffs.com mugs and a free entry in the game of his choice. Dominating performance there sir.

The other winners:

Yeah Yeah Buh Bye: $200

Feasting Maggots: $100

User02598 (nice name there, buddy): $37.50

Doc and DJ: a Stiffs.com shirt and a Stiffs.com mug

2010 is officially our second largest game EVER, with over 1100 entries. There is also a Lee Jr. running already, so get on over and enter that. The fun never ends. But I sure as fuck hope this hangover does.